Hey everybody this week was pretty crazy but a good one! So yeah crazy week here in the Czech! A good one though. Our lessons last Tuesday went good! For Daria we taught the rest of the Restoration and emphasized on the Book of Mormon and committed her read it. She said that she would love too and we gave her a specific chapter to read. Krystoff we kinda had a mutual drop because he just wanted us to come to his business seminar thing so that happened then our lesson with Josef went well and he told us that he would come to church but not till next month which was kind of odd but whatever he is a nice man and is really interested!

Wed. the lecture at the college went well no new investigators but a couple potentials! They had a lot of good questions about the plan of salvation about the kingdoms and our type of hell which we tried to answer as best as we could! It was nice we had the Frydek Elders with us so that helped to have them there. WE also had interviews with president Wednesday and it was awesome I tried to speak as much Czech as possible but when i got stuck it was alright because president speaks really good english! I learned a lot and he gave me ideas on learning the language that i will be trying out.

Thursday was definitely the highlight of my week during group finding after district meeting we went out to the park and.... I set up my first lesson with this guy all in Czech! We talked about families and about how god has a plan for you and how family can be together forever i could really feel the spirit helping me because I don't know how to explain it. It was amazing!! I got his number and set up a time and everything. but the bad news he didn't show up Saturday for the lesson so that sucked i was really excited to meet with him he was super nice! He hasn't replied to any text or calls so we will see what happens! All good you gotta have a good attitude here or else you will die! I love it here even though its starting to get super cold!! It snowed a little bit today but not enough to get on the ground but still it snowed!!

Saturday was good we had our ward Halloween party and about 20 people showed up so you could say it was a success it was actually pretty fun!! We just played ping pong and cards and just talked with the members!

Sunday was good we went Tracting and set up with this lady for Thursday so that was sick! And we taught this nice old lady on her porch the book of Mormon and i gave away my first Book of Mormon so I was happy!

SO my favorite person in the ward is this 17 year old named Filip that was baptized in January! I love him he acts like he is 12 and is crazy hahaha he always comes tracting with us and makes it bearable!!! haha He caught this cat last night it was hilarious, I have pics!

So yeah pretty good week here in Ostrava looking forward to this week! Oh and also out transfers are 9 weeks so i have 3 more weeks in my first transfer!!! I'll send pics!

I love you all!!

Elder Heywood

Dobry Den everybody!!

I had pretty good week! So I'm just going to get right into it. So this week none of our progressing investigators could meet  so we focused on finding. Wednesday was pretty rough we contacted all day and got nothing also people were super mean so half way through the day we took a bit of a breather and bough a couple mila bars to get our spirits back up! Then the sisters called and asked if we wanted to go English finding because not many people showed up to English last Tuesday. So we went and did that and had pretty good success a lot of people said they would come so i guess we will find out tomorrow at English who all will come!

Thursday we had district meeting In Frydek so we took a train over at about 11:30 but right before elder Mueller took me to the house where president Uchtdorf was born so i took a pic don't worry I'll send it. He was born like half a mile away from our apartment actually so that was pretty sick. Then we had district meeting then went group finding and did a singing display. Singing displays are were we will just go sing in a town square then half of us will go contact while the other half sings then we switch like every 15-20 mins. So solo contacting is pretty scary but I've learned to like it and it makes me stretch as much as I can which i am improving leaps and bounds on. My Czech still sucks but its getting way better. I got this kid to actually set up we talked about the plan of Salvation and he set up with me. But the Frydek Elders said that he didn't show the other day so that was kinda a bummer.

Friday was alot of finding and 0 success we found no one that day so that was pretty hard. 

Saturday we didst have much time to contact but we found this sweet ysa girl named Kristina who actually lived in the US for 18 years so it was nice to talk in English and know exactly what she was saying instead of just the main idea haha. But she set up with us for this Wednesday I am so pumped!! She had awesome questions about just god and who he is. Super excited!!

Oh I almost forgot that we had a lesson Tuesday with our new guy Krystof! we only got to meet for like 20 mins but it was way good we talked about God and that we can talk to him through prayer. But the best part was that at the end he asked when we could meet again!!!! WAY PUMPED!!! 

So this upcoming week is going to be crazy!! We have 3 lessons tomorrow with Daria, Krystof and Josef so that is way good because we weren't able to meet with Daria or Josef last week. Then Wednesday we have to give a presentation at a university about the church and all that good stuff so we are pumped but it has to be in Czech and I'm pretty nervous about that. Then we have a lesson with Kristina that afternoon. Then Thursday we don't have much planned but will have a busy Friday and Saturday with finding ideas and a Halloween party that we have planned!! So I'm looking forward to this week!!

So everybody should set aside some time and read Two Talks By pres Uchtdorf "bearers of heavenly light" and The one were he talks about the path back to God cant remember what it was called. But those to two talks and the story in the Book of Mormon about Alma and the city of Ammonihah and how he was rejected and visited by Angel saying Hey Alma your fine man just continue to work and share the gospel and the Lord will give you people to teach and will be blessed. Those 3 things really carried me this week!!

Everyone have a great week!!! Mam te rad!!

Starší Heywood

Hello everybody I had a fantastic week! so I'll start from the beginning!

So last Monday after emailing you guys elder Mueller and I missed our tram to the train station so we had to take a nice long mile and a half run to it because the next tram that was coming would not have made it so that was fun! Don't worry we made our train and met up with everyone in our district there! We them went to Štomberk and it was a beautiful rolling green hill and all the trees are changing color it was so cool! the castle was more of a tower but it was still awesome! I'll add pics later! so we kinda got lost and didn't have time to get super close and see the whole castle but we still got really close and took some sweet pictures! Just saying the pictures don't do it justice! We ate a late lunch then had to head back so we could get back for family night!

Tuesday was pretty good we were supposed to have a lesson with a lady that we tracted so when we got there she answered but told us that she had never seen us before and that she had no interest even though we had talked to her Sunday! so that bummed us out so then we just contacted back to the church and had no luck. We then went to teach English and this one ysa came and was really curious about who we are and what we are doing in the Czech Republic and why we are so nice! haha we gave a spiritual thought on Jesus after and just bore our testimonies! She seemed interested but didn't set up  with us or anything but told us that she would see us next week and that is tomorrow so we will see what happens!

Wednesday we had Zone Conference in Brno so we had to get up at 3am so we could get ready and get to our train on time! Training was awesome it was all in czech but an elder was translating in the back and all the newbies had little earpeices so we know what was going on! I learned a lot and loved what everyone had to say! President Pohořilicky is awesome and gave a stellar talk on the light of Christ and repentance!! it was defiantly the best part! Also it was fun to see Scmhutz and Jarvis!! Out of all the newbies us three are in the same zone what are the odds! Then we all hung out till everyone had to leave for there trains! but actually elder Mueller and I stayed in Brno because we had an exchange with the Zone leaders that night and the next day! So i went with Elder Brockbank and we had a lesson with a recent convert who was baptized about 2 weeks ago.  I forgot his name but we is awesome and we had a sweet lesson about Joseph Smith and the restoration then headed back to their apartment! Turns out their apartment is where the Church would secretly meet during communism so it was really old but it was super cool! Also the aps slept over too because they had another training in Bratislava the next day!

The exchange in Brno was sweet and I learned a lot! The people in Brno are a lot nicer then the people in Ostrava! Turns out that Ostrava is like the hardest area according to the Zone leaders so that makes me feel a little better because we had so many good conversations in Brno and found 2 new investigators rather than Ostrava where we are lucky if we find one!! But it was a good exchange! Brno is super pretty and super big!

We got back in ostrava and pretty much just contacted the rest of the week and found a guy named Kristoff hes cool and we have a lesson with him tomorrow afternoon in the park so I'm praying that it goes well!!! 

As for Anis our investigator with a date he has fallen off the the face of the earth and we have lost contact!! That was a bummer but we have faith that he will show up again because he knows it is true! that was about it this week!

I love you all and will send pics asap!

Elder Heywood

Kniha Mormonova je pravdivy a věřime že to je slovo boží

Well I have to say that it is super crazy that i am starting my 4th week in the field already!! It seems like it has gone so fast, my first transfer is almost half way done! This week was really good so i guess I'll start from the beginning!!

So Monday was just normal I finally got a nice jacket which was just in the nick of time because boy it is starting to get pretty chilly here. its about 45 degrees everyday!!

Tuesday I went on a exchange with Elder Neilson which way fun!! So Monday night I headed on over to Frydek Mystek round 2! They had no lesson planned or anything so we went contacting all day!! It was way good we would switch off every person and it was nice because it gave me a lot of time to practice my Czech. We didn't set up any appointments or lessons with anyone but we ran into some eventful characters and a couple Satan worshipers so that was pretty sick!! Oh and also it literally poured all day Tuesday so that made it even more fun!! We handed out a lot of pass along cards and a couple restoration and plan of salvation pamphlets to the people who were a little more interested then asked them to pray about it! and that was pretty much my day Tuesday!

Wednesday was about the same as Tuesday but back in Ostrava and no rain thankfully!! A lot of contacting which is way good for me to get out of my comfort zone and talk to The Czechs in their beautiful hard language!! Highlight of Wednesday was contacting this lady on the tram all by myself and giving here a passalong card! She was a very nice mom and we talked about families and I just bore testimony that families can be together forever and that if she had interest to calls us because she rejected my offer to exchange phone numbers haha!!

Thursday was the same as Wednesday just contacting all day and then we had to hang out at the church for a couple hours because the sisters had a couple lessons and we have to be there if they are teaching males just in case something bad happens!

Friday we had district meeting then did group finding and contacted about game night and sports night which are on friday and saturday nights!! A guy showed up to game night so you could say that is was a success!!

Saturday General Conference!!!!!!!! Conference was awesome!!!! I loved it there was so many super good talks!!  I'll give my favorites in a bit!! I think the main message of this conference was service! service is the key to happiness!! I loved it!!

Sunday was way good too! The sessions Sunday were awesome then after conference finished we went tracting and got a return visit with this lady for tomorrow so we were pretty pumped about that!! SO here in the Czech Republic people have the coolest dogs here! Like everyone has just a huge dog! When tracting people just have the coolest dogs in their yards! This guy literally had a small polar bear in his yard it was huge!! I took a video but don't have time to upload it or anything! But the coolest dogs by far are the wolfs! They literally breed dogs with wolves and they are the sickest dogs ever I want one so bad!!!!!

Ok General Conference so my favorite talks were probably Pres. Uchtdorf Saturday morning about our migration to heaven. there were so many important things mentioned in that talk it was awesome. I also loved Pres. Nelsons talk about the Book of Mormon and where we would be without it! I know I would not be on a mission without is that is for sure!! I know that the Kniha Mormonova je pravdivy a věřime že to je slovo boží. That Book is a crucial part of my testimony!!! Also Tad R McCallisters talk on the book of Mormon was flawless!! Then Elder Oaks talk on families was fire!!! The family is so important and we cant let the foolish world break them apart!!! So many great messages!!! But it was pretty sad when they announced the death of Elder Hales and not seeing President Monson there was weird!! All in all it was a fantastic conference!!

So today we are taking a little vilet(trip) over to Stromberk which is a cool little town with a castle!! SO ill have some sweet pics for next weeks letter!! Sorry i dont have any this week I love you all!!!!

love,

Starší Heywood

Answers to Questions:

Wake up at 6:30 then straight to exercise we usually go for a run or just do push ups and sit ups

then we do breakfast i usually make eggs and use my tabasco i got from the store but the thing I've been doing lately it i toast some bread then put honey and bananas on it! Its so good!

WE get ready for the day then do personal and comp study! 

we then head out to the church and grab a good ole bread cheese and meat for lunch eat at the church do language study then go out contracting or just proselyting the rest of the day.

we usually get back to our apartment around 8 and have dinner then we just kinda relax! President has challenged us all to read 13 pages from the old testament each day to finish it before the end of the transfer so we usually do that. And that  is the normal day here in the good ole Czech republic!!

Wow this week went by fast! Still loving it but the language is very frustrating I try not to get frustrated and have a positive attitude but sometimes its hard when you just want to say something but can't or just try to have a good conversation. I can get the conversation started but can't really finish it out or they  ask me a question and i have no Idea what they just said! But other than that I love it!!

SO this week was super eventful!! First off, sorry I didn't take a whole lot of pics this week just because all the running around we do! Ostrava is really spread out so we have to take trams and buses everywhere and sometimes it takes a while! But Ostrava is really pretty in some areas and really ugly in others! Last Tuesday we went contacting in this huge park that is beautiful and is maybe the same size or a little bigger than central park in NYC and it has a cool river that runs through it!! I forgot to take pics just because we were talking to everybody that we could! Then that second picture that Parker sent in that email last week we did a singing display there and I went and solo contacted for the first time while the rest sang! It was pretty scary!! haha! 

That night I went on my first exchange with Elder Robinson he's in our district and him and Elder Neilson (bretts cousin) are serving in Frydek Mystek which is only like a 15 min train ride!! So i went over there and Elder Neilson took my spot! It was fun Elder Robinson is a funny dude and says the word Fetch like every other word! SO we spent the whole day in Frydek and met this one way cool dude and set up a lesson with him for Sunday which was yesterday. 'Ill find out later today how it went!

Wednesday was just a normal day and we pretty much contacted the whole day! Thursday was the same as Wednesday except for district meeting and district finding thats when we did the singing display then we had a member lesson and taught the light of christ.

But Friday we had progressive training for all the greenies and trainers in Brno so we woke up at 4 am and got ready and had to be at our bus stop at 5:30 so we got there and were running a little late so there's nothing like a little jog at 5 am in suits! But we made it on time and everything and started our 3 hour journey to Brno by bus! We got there and it was awesome to see all my buddies from the MTC! So fun to see Schmutz and Jarvis and here everyone's stories of the 1st week! Progressive training was awesome and I learned a lot about adjusting to missionary life and they just kinda gave us the run down on the mission and our mission goals. then they fed us some great Czech Pizza and Some KOFOLA!! Its a delicious drink! Then we had interviews with President and they were way awesome it was just a little get to know you and show him pics of the fam!! Then we journeyed back home! It was a long day!! 

Saturday was good but not super eventful! Fast Sunday was long but awesome! We don't watch conference till next Sunday and we get to watch in English so that's nice! So our investigator Anis came to church and we had a  good lesson on prayer and he bore his testimony about prayer and the Book of Mormon and it was awesome. We had to push back his Baptismal date back a bit just because he kinda fell of the face of the earth for a bit but he said hes back for good and wants to be baptized!!!!! Way awesome then went contacting and tracting the rest of the day and no one was interested which sucked!! It was a long day!!!

So that was about it for the week!!! We are about to go eat lunch but I'll be back in the afternoon to finish emailing and try to figure out my camera situation!!

Also we have game night on Friday and sports night on Saturdays and we teach English on Tuesday nights so those  fun!! Ill send pics later!!

Starší Heywood

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:

Living is actually way nice we have a pretty nice apartment and we live just outside of Ostrava in a place called Dubina!

I can converse kinda with people but it is way rough and i need help from elder mueller

I got a coat today 

Church is good all in Czech we the sisters and the elders in Frydek all cover the same ward we have about 20 people every Sunday

some people will speak english but not very many

I usually eat eggs in the morning then for lunch we go and buy some bread cheese and meat and have like a personal made lunchable its way good and super cheap then I'll get some type of chocolate.

Pday have just been kinda hanging out but we are planning to go to a castle next week so I'll make sure to take a lot of pics!!!

People are pretty friendly here but not interested in the church

some parts of  Ostrava then some parts are pretty ugly just depends on where you are!

We are assuming this is the pretty part!!

District

Elders Mueller and Heywood

Tracting in Ostrava

I don't even know where to start holy cow!!!! The week was crazy!!! So I guess I'll start from the beginning. Flight was way long but that's alright Iwas exhausted and slept most of it; then we got to Amsterdam there was a nice guy that works for family tree kinda helped us make our way around the airport and then he took a pic an sent it to all our moms for us!! It was a quick 2 hours from Amsterdam to Prague and I slept the whole flight!! We got there and President was waiting for us there with his wife and the assistants!!! Nicest people I have ever met!! So we got all loaded up in the van and headed to the mission home!! We unloaded then took a pic with president then we headed out to the Prague walk!

Lets just say that Prague is the most beautiful city that I have ever seen in my life!!! I will set up my camera to the church wifi so i can send pics i just haven't had any time to send any this past week ha been go go go!!! Old buildings and Castles everywhere!!! After that we headed to dinner and had svickova which was weird but way good!!! The food here is way different but I like it so far!! A lot of bread!! Then after dinner we had a little time and went contacting in the metro! Pretty scary the first time but thank goodness the first guy i talked to could speak English!!! He heard my piece but wasn't interested! We headed to a hotel and slept there for the night! 

The next morning we headed back to the the mission home for breakfast and to know where are areas would be and to meet our trainers!! 

Ok the moment you have all been waiting for I am serving in Ostrava!!!! My Trainers name is Elder Mueller and he is way sick!! He is from Alaska and loves to hike.  The nicest guy I have ever met!! I have already learned so much!!! My brain hurts!! I also don't understand anything!! SO how it usually goes while contacting is Elder Mueller will stop some people then I will ask them a question and then it goes on from there!! Yep Czech is way hard! And the people here in Ostrava take a lot of pride in how fast they talk and that makes it even more hard hahaha!!! I thought I had bad headaches in the MTC hahah i was wrong!!

I had my first lesson last Thursday with a Lutheran missionary and thank goodness that was in English!! I could actually understand and what not!! It was way cool she seemed pretty interested with it all and hopefully we can set up another lesson!! So there is a guy named Anis that Elder Mueller has been teaching and he has a Baptismal date for October 14th!!! SO we are way stoked about that!! 

Ummm what else! WE get around by public transportation so a lot of tram contacting and bus!! If we aren't on the trams we are running to them!! Hahaha I am way out of shape!! But it also is alot of fun running around! Today is the first day since ive been here that the sun has been out it has rained everyday since I've been here in Ostrava and I love it!!! Except holy cow, it is way cold after we are done emailing we are going to get me a nice warm coat!! 

Sunday was an adventure!! Church was awesome but  long and hard to follow along because of all the Czech! But my district is awesome! There are six of us 4 elders and 2 sisters they are all way supportive and it helps a lot when i get frustrated!!

Yesterday was my first day tracting and it wasn't that bad!! Everyone has a sick dog!! So we actually got let into a house and we could tell that this lady was already a little tipsy but we went in and at first it was great she was asking why we are here and what we wanted to talk about!! So we started to talk about the plan of salvation and it was going well then all the sudden she just started to freak out!! I had know idea what was going on because it was all in Czech and then she pointed to me and asked why am i here and I said one of the only things I knew how to say! I said to testify of Jesus Christ then she started screaming at me!!! Yeah we got out of there as soon as we could!!! Hahaha it was an adventure! 

Well that was my week!! If you have any Questions let me know!!! And ill try to answer them next Moday!!!

I love you all!!!

Elder Heywood

I don't understand Czech

Ahoy rodini a kamaradi!!

Pre letter:  Wow so much has happened this past week and it sounds like a lot of fun!!! I really wanted to read that book because Chad Lewis came and talked to us on Sunday and it was a stellar talk one of my favorites by far!!!!  I really wanted to read it after his talk!!! Thanks for sending!  Last email i got from Kennedy she was enjoying her job a lot better; the pictures of the kids were super cute!! SO EXCITED ABOUT LAUREN!!!  Can't wait to come home to a brand new kid that I've never met!! Yeah crazy about Gilbert! Dawson tanner and some of the other kids have been sending me their highlights because i asked them too!!! This week was pretty great and will get into it more at 3! you don't have to send cheetoes ill be fine and we leave monday morning anyways!! I don't know when I'll be able to call but my guess is around 10-2 then maybe again in Amsterdam!! Cant wait to get out of here even though my Czech is pretty bad! 

Love you! Will send a couple pics from the temple this morning!! this was my last session for 2 years!!

Love, Starší Heywood

Letter:   Sounds like everyone had an eventful week with the Arizona reception and all!!!! From the sounds of it it sounded pretty fun and I hear the Mexican food was a huge hit! I want some! the only real food I get is when we go to the temple cafeteria after a session!! Oh and on that note today was my last time at the temple for 2 years so that was a little depressing!

So overall my last full week in the Mtc has been really great! So last friday we got our flight plans if you all didn't know! we leave the Mtc Monday at 9:50 am and take a nice long flight all the way to Amsterdam then we have a layover then head on over to Prague!! Cant wait to get over there!! An Elder in our districts mom has been sending us weather updates so we are getting pretty excited for the Prague walk, Ill be sure to take tons of pictures! Also I'll have plenty of time to call you guys!

The Skinners are here in the Mtc and it was so nice to see a face from home!! I have seen them everyday and they take a picture every time I see them and send it to mom so I'm sure she has a bunch pics of me from this week!! It was really funny when I first saw them in the cafeteria andIi ran up and Kathy gave me a big hug and I was not expecting that because you know I haven't given a woman a hug in 9 weeks so that was really funny!! Its been nice chatting with them for a little bit everyday. they are leaving Saturday so only a week for them!

So for this past Sunday devotional it was awesome Chad Lewis came and spoke to us! It has got to be one of my favorite talks from the mtc he just told a lot of mission and NFL stories and it was awesome he also talked about hiking in the Himalayas and that was awesome too!! It made me miss football when he was talking about his career!! I hope ASU doesn't do too well so I don't miss anything hahaha!!

Czech is still super hard but i am getting better as bad as I am at it.  I honestly can't wait to get over there and use it!! My teachers tell us that they love it when we try to speak it so that will be a fun experience!! 

On Tuesday we got to here from Elder Patrick Kearon of the Presidency of the Seventy. he gave a fantastic talk on just how important prayer is also that you have to have a firm testimony in the gospel and if you dont then you wont be able to teach it!

I would just like to say that i have a firm belief in this gospel and I cannot wait to share it with the people of the Czech republic! I know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been resurrected and that he lives and that through his atonement our sins can be washed away so that we can live with him and our Heavenly Father again and through this gospel that I love so much we can become like them and live with them again for all eternity!!

Love, Starší Heywood